Reprise (1997)

Rating:

No Rating

Genre:

Documentary

Release Date:

January 1, 1997

Running time:

98 minutes

Cast:

Pierre Bonneau, Jacques Willemont

Director:

Herve Le Roux

Description: Nearly three decades following a failed strike, factory workers gather to reminisce. This thought-provoking and moving French documentary records their conversations as they remember their struggle, their hardship, the pain of defeat, and the ways in which they stuck together through it all. Filmmaker Herve Le Roux was inspired to make this film after viewing a short documentary made just after the strike was busted in June of 1968. The two young filmmakers interviewed the workers, and one woman's protest struck a chord with Le Roux who began searching for the original participants. The event took place at the Wonder batter company in Saint-Ouen, an industrial town located near Paris. Tired of working 50-hour weeks for a pittance, the exhausted, impoverished workers launched a three-week long strike that ultimately caused them only greater personal tragedy. Despite the strike's disappointing outcome, the former workers (the plant has since closed) look back upon the experience with surprising fondness.~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide